St. Lawrence County mulling logo change

CANTON  A St. Lawrence County legislator has proposed the county change its logo to modernize it.

Alex A. MacKinnon, R-Fowler, thinks the county logo  a drawing of a jumping deer  could stand an update.

Mr. MacKinnon said he has no particular feeling about what the logo should be but that it could be something in keeping with the 21st century.

We still have plenty of running deer, but we have other things as well, he said.

The seal appears on county highway trucks, letterheads, the county map and various official documents.

There have been a number of versions of the logo over the years, said printing and mailroom supervisor Richard M. Cassara, a graphic artist who reworked it in 2010 when some new door seals were needed.

The oldest representation I have is of an engraving, he said.

Mr. Cassaras version includes the deer leaping over cultivated fields that represent agriculture, mountains for the Adirondacks, water for the St. Lawrence River and a maple tree.

Ill do whatever they tell me, he said.

Other examples of the logo are more simplistic, lacking much detail.

Trent A. Trulock, director of the county Historical Association, is researching the history of the seal for a presentation Mr. Cassara intends to make.

Mr. Trulocks preliminary work shows that the seal appears in a history of the county by Franklin Benjamin Hough, which was originally published in 1853.

The county was formed in 1802 so sometime between 1802 and 1853, the seal was adopted, Mr. Trulock said. Its a deer jumping.

Several county departments have their own logo and there has been talk in the past of a uniform image, Administrator Karen M. St. Hilaire said.

The treasurers seal has a cow, the old Board of Supervisors had a beehive and the Board of Legislators incorporates a gavel and feather, for example.

Mr. MacKinnon said he thought changing the seal could be a way of thinking about county resources and what best symbolizes the area.

It could be a community project, he said. Who knows what well come up with?